If you care about the area you live in, you care about land use.
Project 7B focuses on how land is used by everyday people. Our goal is to get citizens engaged in local land use, because whether or not they pay attention to zoning codes, everyone cares about the outcome. We care about having public waters that are safe for our children to swim in, free of sewage or pesticide runoff. We care about the cost of living, and the freedom to enjoy public access. We care about breathing clean air, enjoying our spectacular rural spaces, and preserving local agriculture and food supply. Project 7B believes these are nonpartisan issues, and our supporters come from all backgrounds and walks of life.
We keep track of local land use hearings (see calendar below) and offer a variety of resources for citizens to learn more.
Bonner County Story Map
The core land use issues influencing development can be complicated. But check this out! We’ve cooked up this Story Map that uses some great visuals to help explain land use planning issues in Bonner County. Projections and data are all from November 2021. Click to the Story Map »
To see an update from November 2023 on how our county has been growing, see our short presentation here.
Exploring Innovative Solutions to the Housing Crisis: Community Land Trust
Like many communities in the rural west, Bonner County is experiencing a severe shortage of workforce and affordable housing.
Most local residents have stories of friends or family who can no longer afford to rent, nor to purchase a home at the current market prices. Meanwhile, businesses are hurting for employees who either cannot move here nor remain in the area due to the gap between prevailing wages and the high cost of housing.
Project 7B and Kaniksu Land Trust (KLT) are among organizations in the community searching for solutions. These two coordinated a panel of speakers in June to discuss one potential tool to address this situation: housing provided through collaboration with community land trusts (CLTs). Click here to watch the conversation.
“A Community Conversation: How workforce housing can be delivered through collaboration with community land trusts” was the first topic of what’s hoped to be a series of discussions regarding workforce housing, according to Carol Curtis of Project 7B.
One of the panelists is Michael Brown, an expert on community land trusts. Brown has spent his last 40 years working with Burlington Associates with a focus on establishing and supporting community land trusts. Brown also leads the Headwaters Community Housing Trust, a non-profit that is tackling similar issues in Bozeman, Montana. The group has just unveiled their first CLT project: Bridger View.
Community land trusts are one housing strategy that is being employed in a number of communities facing the same challenges that Bonner County is currently experiencing.
Additional panelists included KLT Executive Director Katie Cox and local planner Erik Brubaker. The panel was facilitated by Lisa Gerber of Big Leap Creative. Gerber’s podcast, Breaking Trail, has tackled the subject of growth and affordability in recent episodes.
This event was made possible through a grant from the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force and with support from the Selkirk Association of Realtors and the Bonner Community Housing Agency.
Thank you for being a Project 7B follower. It’s a lot of work keeping up with area planning, and we’re here to help protect planning principles and support citizen involvement.
Please consider donating to help us continue to keep Bonner County residents informed. You can donate via the PayPal link below, or send a check to Project 7B at PO Box 2365, Sandpoint ID 83864.
Time-lapse Imagery of the Last Quarter Century on Earth
Take a look at this site from TIME magazine http://world.time.com/timelapse/. Choose a location and watch the changes that have occurred from the mid-1980s until 2012 from satellite images strung together. You can look at some of their focus locations such as Las Vegas or the Amazon or you can type in any location such as Bonner County.